Death Knocks Twice
by stardust1173
Summary: It was a simple mission...then the world fell apart and death came knocking for a second time... NejiOC, character death.
1. The First Knock

_This is a two part story that I came up with after watching the new CSI last night with the dead little girl. Isn't tv great?_

Death Knocks Twice: Part One

"Are you done yet?" Jen readjusted the tie holding back her honey blonde hair containing a single streak of bright blue.

"Just this house." Neji glanced at her and kept walking to one of the few standing buildings left on the deserted street. Jen followed a few steps behind as he activated his Byakugan and observed the quiet home carefully. "Just one, four or five years old…a girl." He mutters and Jen nods.

"After you…" She comments and they descend upon the house.

With the door kicked in and weapons ready for attack, a panic arose and the girl started screaming. Throwing her hands up and shrinking back, stumbling and tripping easily. Neji stepped forward first but Jen caught his arm and shook her head. The girl was injured badly, her face paling as she bled out from the gash in her arm.

Jen slipped her kunai away and stepped slowly towards the cowering child who continued to whimper. "It's okay. We're not going to hurt you." Her voice was soft, calm, and had a certain touch of something else Neji couldn't pinpoint. Jen knelt down, still far enough away not to be able to touch the little girl. "It's going to be alright sweetie. What's your name?"

Shaking arms lowered slowly and green eyes hooked to the calm stare. "Y-Yuko." Her voice was shaking as badly as she was and Jen inched closer strategically.

"Yuko, that's a pretty name. My name is Jenina. That is Neji." Jen glanced over her shoulder where her teammate continued to watch with interest. Soothing gaze slipped back to the girl. Her breathing was thinning and becoming quieter. Jen looked towards the wound. "That looks like it hurts. Do you want me to make it better?" Her voice shrunk to a whisper. "I can help you Yuko I just need you to trust me okay?" Jen reached out with one hand towards the terrified child, her careful eyes searching for any reason to pull back but Yuko just continued to shake and stare at her, claming when Jen's hand finally brushed her skin.

"Ow…"

"It's okay…" Jen reassured and pulled Yuko closer, cradling her as a mother would their child. That was when Neji recognized the tone of her voice. It was a deep sense of affection wrapped around her words not often found outside of a parent speaking to their child.

Yuko cringed and tucked her face into Jen's worn shirt, smearing blood, ash and dirt on the once clean fabric. "Shh…it's okay. It will be okay." Jen cooed softly, gently rocking the child back and forth while holding her securely. "Shh…" Her voice trailed off but was soon replaced by a simple humming. Jen ran her fingers over the matted black hair and continued to rock, closing her eyes.

After minutes of the repeated process Yuko finally fell silent but Jen continued to rock back and forth, back and forth. Neji glanced around. They were taking too much time. "Jen…" He said and she stopped rocking.

"Such a cute little girl…" Jen commented and held the child in her lap, once fearful eyes were closed as tears lingered on her almost white cheeks. "Fly, fly away to dreamlands…" Jen placed a tender kiss to the child's forehead and lingered there, closing her eyes with a soft smile. "Hm, she's still warm. You wouldn't know unless you were this close, to hear her frail heart stop beating…" Jen pulled away slowly and laid the child out on the floor, crossing the arms lightly.

It was in this motion Neji noticed the blood covering Jen's front where the child had been laying moments before. "Jen…" Not even he knew what he was going to say. There was such a sense of shock in what just happened, how Jen was speaking, and what she had just done.

Jen stood and bowed her head forward in a moment of silence. Suddenly she snapped back to him, eyes still holding their caring sweetness. "The others will be waiting then. We should go if you've cleared this area." Her voice was stronger, back to what he was used to but the few small minutes still lingered hauntingly in his mind.

Unable to say anything, he nods and they leave the house, shutting the door behind them.

Silent moments later, the two come upon their remaining teammates. "What took you guys so long? Jen! Are you okay?" Lee exclaimed upon seeing the still fresh blood bathed over the softly smiling girl.

"Oh it's not mine. Is everything clear?" Jen redirects, scanning over the party.

"Nothing, everyone was wiped out." Tenten shakes her head and takes a final look around.

"Same." Jen sighs contently. "Report back then?" She asks, turning to their group leader. Neji nods silently and they sprint away, leaving the decimated village behind them.

It wasn't until sometime later, when they almost reached their destination that Neji was finally able to speak again. Taking a deep breath he started. "Jen, what happened…"

"You don't have to say anything." She interrupted. "It's okay Neji, really. She was cut too deep and there was nothing we could have done in time to save her. It was better that way. To be safe, and warm, and loved right before… I think it gave her strength because she stopped crying before she died, I could feel her tears through my shirt…" Jen smiled that same smile as when holding that dieing child in her arms. It was eerie yet soothing to see that smile again.

"How can you smile like that?" He forced his voice out in a hissing whisper.

Jen took a breath and looked him straight in the eye. "Because I know what I did, though unnecessary and seemingly insignificant, made a big difference at the end of that little girl's life." Jen tilted her head to the side and raised an eyebrow, still smiling. "Didn't you see it?" She asked, a laugh almost present in her words.

Neji breathed and turned back to where they were racing. There were still so many mysteries in the world. He could only hope that Jen would be the one he wouldn't solve.

_What do you think? Kind of a random ending but it makes sense and carries over to the second part. It might be a while before I get it done though but hopefully not too long! I have a couple of oneshot ideas lined up and need to write them out soon so it is on the list..._


	2. A Final Knock

_This is the final chapter. I'm sorry if you don't get it or are confused at the end but there is almost no way I can really explain this. It's merely a by product of my mind while mulling over the CSI episode I saw last week. I hope you enjoy the conclusion..._

Death Knocks Twice: Part 2

Another rough sputtering cough and Neji blinked, coming back from the memory to the current time. It was too much to be real. He wished he would wake up but knew better then that as he ran his shaking fingers through her light hair tangled with twigs, dirt and clotting blood.

She clenched her blue eyes closed in pain as she suppressed the coughing with difficulty and blinked back her tears. She couldn't lose it now, not in front of him. She didn't want to hurt him by having to see that. This was enough pain to endure at the moment…

Jen tightened her fingers around his hand pressed to the rip in her side and breathed roughly, the spiking tension was making it almost impossible to talk but somehow she found words. "Guess I wasn't fast enough this time huh?" She started simply.

He didn't know how to respond. Here she lay smiling and joking has her pulse weakened against him. Neji could feel it through the blood pushing between his fingers so rapidly. "Yeah…" He choked, voice not sounding like his own in any sense.

Jenina coughed again, weaker this time and smiled sickeningly. Eyes hooking to his while he tried to think. Their teammates were gone, they were out in the middle of nowhere, and the blood just wouldn't stop! It was only the will to help Jen through this that Neji kept from panicking completely.

Knowing full well he was struggling with the harsh situation Jen could think of nothing to do. Was it really her place to be comforting him or should it be the other way around? In her mind it didn't matter, other people had always come first. So whether wrong or right, she turned towards him and set her arm around his back, too weakened at this point to pull herself closer.

Neji clenched his fists to stop their shaking and pulled Jen to him, raising her onto his lap as he crouched in the dirt. His memory flashed and he saw her in this same posture, holding a dieing little girl she didn't even know so tenderly…

It was if the door had been unlocked, he suddenly knew what he was supposed to do. It all made sense. He shifted his grip and held her tight as he dared, then slowly started to rock back and forth in a simple rhythm.

The tension lifted drastically and he calmed almost instantly, the situation didn't matter anymore, the warm crimson soaking into his shirt was trivial. All that mattered was right now, right here, in this simple affectionate action.

Jen smiled into his chest softly. She never thought that they would be in this position or that he would do this for her but it didn't matter. Nothing else mattered but still she spoke up, afraid that she wouldn't be able to talk again unless she spoke now. With a shuddered breath she stated, "I…sure am going to miss, all this." It was difficult and her wound protested with another shot of infliction.

Neji continued the pattern and ran his hand from her forehead to the base of her neck, gently picking out bits of leaves and twigs from her tangles as he went. The small genuine expression could not have been any more sincere as he smiled and sighed in her ear. "No…you won't." He said, finally understanding another aspect of this girl he grew to call a mystery. It was such a tragedy though, that he could only be enlightened through this manner.

Taking another deep calm breath, Neji picked a tune and started to hum gently in her ear, swaying back and forth to the beat as she closed her eyes peacefully, accepting the darkness tearing at her body as Neji continued to hold her.

It was with that calm sense of caring and understanding Jenina left this world but Neji continued to rock, hum, and stroke until he felt her final heartbeat faded to nothing.

At first he didn't want to look at her, he was afraid of what he would see but it was quickly swept aside and he let his grip go enough to look down at her stilled body. As with the child he had recalled earlier, Jen's face was in such a relaxed place he almost thought her to be asleep instead of dead but he knew better then to wish for that kind of hope now.

With a chaste kiss Neji shifted her to the ground and folded her arms, unconsciously now copying her actions from his memory. And with a final look he stood and glanced her over again.

Had he at anytime before now faced this he probably would have broken down immediately. He had never lost a teammate before now but it was odd how light his heart felt. No guilt, no remorse, no questions at all.

He smiled and kneeled to untie her forehead protector to take back to the village. 'Now I understand. It doesn't hurt because I know I did everything I could do at the time. There was no other way I could have wanted that to end so I leave here with no pain…' Neji stood straight and gripped the cool metal I his hand. "Thank you Jenina…at last I've solved your mystery…" He said to the dead clearing and walked away with a lighter mind, only to look back once with a final smile.

_The End._


End file.
